Ric Flair On Teaching An Interview Class For NXT, Consuming Xanax To Combat Anxiety Issues
WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair recently appeared on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast to discuss a myriad of wrestling topics.
During the podcast, Flair revealed that he taught an interview class for the NXT roster over WrestleMania 39 weekend. He said,
“They just did. It’s fun. They had me come do an interview class for NXT while they were in LA. They had me do an interview class. Now, they’re on this program where they’re bringing in nothing but college athletes into the training center.”
“When they were in LA, they brought in 50 or 100, I think it was 50, college athletes from all over the country. We went up to UCLA and they had them do endurance training and then they had them come to a seminar where I talked about how to learn how to interview, which is really hard to explain because it’s got to come from here [the heart]. The biggest problem is really, if they have 100 people at NXT right now, out of that 100, one percent might make it.”
The 16-time World Champion also reflected on losing his self-confidence in the late ’80s, which caused him to resort to using Xanax.
Flair specifically recalled Jim Herd demanding him to trim his hair and change his name to Spartacus in WCW as one of the unfortunate incidents that affected his confidence and boosted his anxiety.
You can check out some additional highlights from the podcast below:
On starting to use Xanax in 1989 due to feeling self-confidence and anxiety issues: “Since ’89. I had a real self-confidence issue. Huge. Just different promoters having different feelings on my position with the company and life. I fell apart.”
On how Jim Herd wanting him to change his name to Spartacus contributed to his anxiety: “Once I got to WWE, I quit taking it, but that time I had with WCW, this guy wanted me to cut my hair, call myself Spartacus. Jim Herd.”
On cutting his hair: “I did cut my hair, that’s the haircut I had in North Korea, I fell for it, but I was cracked by then. I went from being the World Champion to this guy who ran Pizza Huts in St. Louis. Ted [Turner] just hired his friends to run the wrestling, and his friends just hired people. Until they hired Bobby Cox, the Braves never won, he had his next-door neighbor the Braves. Then all of a sudden the Braves became good with Bobby Cox as the manager. He just let his friends run a lot of his businesses.”
On what Jim Herd told him: “He says I want to cut your hair, call you Spartacus, put an earring in your ear. I was in shock. I went home and had an anxiety attack.”
On how he got introduced to Xanax: “Believe it or not, my wife gave it to me. And over the years, I’ve thought about, what the hell was she taking Xanax for. She said in a staircase in a big house we had, I was just lost, and she goes what are you doing, and I said I’m feeling anxious, if that’s even a word, if that’s the word for it, and she said, take this. I took it, felt normal.”
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